I love to see the temple

We took a Sunday drive to see all the temples in Utah County.

I thoroughly enjoyed our little trip.  The weather was perfect for a drive and we packed snacks and bottles of ice water so what's not to love?

Here are the Utah County temples in the order we saw them:

1) Mt. Timpanogos a.k.a. "our temple"

It's the one we see every day out our window.  Driving by it made me feel a longing to go inside.

Yes, Emma did this pose at EVERY SINGLE temple.  I didn't know she was doing that but Mark did.  This is why we can't have nice things. Ratty kids. 

2) Saratoga Springs

The temple there will be in a gorgeous spot overlooking the lake with all the mountain grandeur before it.  I wonder if/hope we'll be able to see it from our house.

We took a lovely route around the west side of the lake, landing in Goshen where I did my students teaching and then went to...

3) Payson

We can't not think about Braeden and Anna when we see the Payson temple.  I'm filled with gratitude that they were sealed in that beautiful place and that they are ours forever.

While we drove we talked about temples and which in the world we had visited.  I told them about the moment I decided I wanted to be married in the Salt Lake City Temple.  It was at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party.  They had a cake with a tiny Salt Lake City Temple on top made of crystal.  I realized that all my grandparents and my parents were married there and that was what I wanted too.

Up next was Provo.

4) Provo City Center

I can't see this beautiful temple without thinking about it being a tabernacle that burned and emerged more glorious than ever.

All the photos that are artsy like this were taken by Adam

5) Provo

This temple holds a special place in my heart because it was where we went with Stella for her first time to do baptisms for her family two weeks after Braeden baptized her in Virginia.

Our original plan was to see all the sites, even the ones not yet completed.  We generally know where the new Orem temple will be even though they haven't broken ground yet but:  we ran out of steam.

We had a lovely time and I 1) felt grateful for the wealth of temples we have here and 2) felt sad that we can't go inside.  Yet.  Someday soon hopefully we will be back.

Respite

Adam has had a very busy work schedule and all of us were feeling weary and discouraged by the news.  We decided to head for the hills--or mountains as it were for a Sunday drive.

We took Braeden and Anna with us so we took two cars, Adam's Subaru and Joan.  It was Joan's first time on a dirt road.  I baby her like she isn't a Jeep, but she is, in fact, a Jeep and did fine.

The mountains were beautiful and restorative.  We tried to get to Cascade Springs but every route was closed.  So we drove around the Wasatch back up some very narrow and winding roads.  We got up to where the aspens were just getting their leaves and there were still a (very few) patches of snow.  We were at almost 9000 feet.

When Braeden and Anna were in our car (they're the popular couple so they took turns being with Adam and me and Emma and Mark), we were talking about our feelings of helplessness.  I said something about all the blessings I have been given and what am I even doing?  Anna said, "Well, you are a mother."

I am.  Here's my message to the world:

Braeden found that stick and said, "What a good stick!"  He asked Mark if he still collects good sticks.

Mark kind of smiled at him indulgently because he doesn't still collect sticks and said, "If you turn it upside down it will be a better stick.  You want the biggest part on the bottom."

My boys and their sticks....

(When it was time to leave, Braeden said he didn't want to take it because it was such a good stick and maybe someone had left it there and still wanted it.  I said probably their mom didn't let them take it home.  I said, "Sorry Anna, Braeden and his sticks are up to you now."  Braeden left the stick behind.  He is, you know, 23 now.)

Mark climbed up on a post and appears to be pontificating which is nothing new.  Emma stood at his feet and said, "Here Mark, trust fall.  I'll catch you."

But Mark just leaped down onto the uneven ground like a 17 year old boy.

How I love these four:

Spending time with them is good for my soul.

It is not lost on me how fortunate I am that I live in this impossibly beautiful place where I've always felt safe.  It is not lost on me that I've never been suspected because of the color of my skin and that I have always had opportunities and safety nets.  I never did anything to deserve any of it.

The horrible things happening in our country make me incredibly sad.  I don't understand the violence and destruction people are resorting too.  I don't understand how they can wreck their neighbors' livelihoods. I don't understand that level of hopelessness and fury.  I don't understand.  And I recognize that it's because I've never felt that level of hopelessness and fury that I don't understand.

We talked about it as part of our Come Follow Me discussion.  We talked about iniquity and inequality.  We talked about power and kings.  We talked about who our actual King is.  We talked about what we can do.  (Not a lot, it feels like.)

We decided we can vote.  We can try to be a positive light in our realms of influence and to the people around us.  We can pray.

I reminded them that we don't live in the kingdom of Davis.  We aren't in charge and we don't have to fix everything.  We live in the Kingdom of God.  We have a King and He loves all His children.  We need to follow His commandments and love His children too.

He is at the helm.

Summer time

Yesterday I had 6 hours of online professional development and also our end of year faculty picnic.

So highs and lows.

The online training was about as thrilling as you'd expect.  At least I did it with my friends.  The third grade team always meets in my classroom because they say it's the cleanest.  Right now all our rooms are equally clean with all the end of the year loose ends tied up, but I guess old habits die hard.

We stopped for lunch and had an end of year teacher slideshow that made me want to cry because I love my job and my school and the people I work with so much.  I felt very fortunate to be where I was.

(I was trying to remember why I didn't go to the faculty end of year party last year as an aide and I remembered. I was in the hospital, with Mark.  I liked this year better.)

We ate our lunches out on the lawn in clumps of chairs and the third grade teachers ended up with the second grade teachers and we talked about all the things.

We dragged ourselves out of the sunshine and back into my classroom.  By then the AC had been turned off (it only runs in the morning during the summer months) and the temperature crept up in equal measure to our eyes getting heavy.

I fished some quarters out of my bag and went to the faculty lounge to try out the brand new soda machine.

It took my money but didn't deliver a soda.

And it wouldn't relinquish my coins.

I checked the thermometer in my room and it was 78 degrees.  Perfect weather for studying the new science standards we are going to be teaching....

Mark arrived inexplicably.  A few days before I had talked to him about helping me in my classroom but I didn't mean yesterday.  I was doing my training yesterday.  He had been asleep when I left home in the morning and then there he was.  I gave him some cash and told him to go get me a soda.  He happily complied (and got one for himself which surprised exactly no one).

There was a stream of teachers coming in and out of my room.  Miriam, the PE teacher, Nicole, a 4th grade teacher, and Jamie, the instructional coach stopped in to chat.  Lauren, a 1st grade teacher popped her head in and asked Jamie if she still had sodas in the fridge in her office.  Jamie said yes.

I said, "I had my teenage son go get me one."

Lauren said, "I don't have a teenage son."

I gestured to the corner where Mark was listening to his headphones and said, "You can use mine."

But Jamie had a soda for Lauren and we got back to our training.

Later, because miracles haven't ceased, I was finally able to go to IKEA to pick up some things I'd ordered for my classroom.  (Every day I would try online to set a time to pick them up and every day I would get the message that they were full for the day.)

Adam and I went to IKEA and grabbed dinner and anytime I do anything with Adam, it's a good day. We talked about the day and a supreme court podcast he likes and the news.

We got home in time for the senior parade.  People in our ward with trucks had the families of graduates in the back and we lined the streets with noise makers.  Horns were honking and we all waved happily to each other.  We live close but we haven't necessarily seen everyone.  Some YW leaders brought up the rear with an ice cream truck which was a decorated ATV.

We read scriptures on the deck and started the brain teaser we do every summer night about when we should turn off the AC and open the windows.  No one wants to be the one who thought it was time to open the windows and then the temperature inside climbs.  Ask me how I know.

It feels like summer is really and truly upon us.

By the dawn's early light

Yesterday afternoon I felt a little jolt of excitement when I saw they had hung the flag.  You can see the red cover around it across the canyon.

This morning around 6:30, I saw about ten riders go past on the trail above our house, toward the canyon.  They were horseback and carrying flags.

I love living here.

Here's the view out of our front door.

(lots of extra cars in the neighborhood this morning)

Once I heard the cannons and saw the unfurling, I hurried to the back deck.  I remembered this from last year.

They flew directly over our house and no one woke up.

At least I documented it for them.

I'm looking forward to today.  I love living in such a beautiful place.  I love our country.  I love living by Big Betsy in the canyon.  I love living above the line where fireworks are illegal.  I can watch them out over the valley without feeling like I'm in a war zone.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Christmas concert

I have a lot of favorite things about living in Pleasant Grove (and a few least favorite things).  Topping the favorite list is the high school choir Christmas concert.  It is very thoroughly a Christmas concert and in most parts of the country, I don't think that could be the case.

But I love it.

As Nola whispered to me during one of the songs, "Imagine the impact learning these songs about the Savior and singing them every day has been for these kids?"

It's pretty remarkable.

And they're talented.  One of the boys arranged a beautiful song and then accompanied the choir.  It was amazing.

I was thrilled to see my own handsome guy in the men's choir.

The concert ended with all five choirs singings All is Well.

All is well all is well

Angels and men rejoice

For tonight darkness fell

Into the dawn of love's light

Sing Ale

Sing Alleluia

All is well all is well

Let there be peace on earth

Christ's come go and tell

That He is in the manger

Sing Ale

Sing Alleluia

All is well all is well

Lift up your voices and sing

Born is now Emmanuel

Born is our Lord and Savior

Sing Alleluia

Sing Alleluia

All is well

Born is now Emmanuel

Born is our Lord and Savior

Sing Alleluia

Sing Alleluia

All is well

It's possible it made me cry.

Fall break part 3

the Star Valley, WY temple in the daylight

When we got home Friday night, Adam asked me if I thought my pioneer ancestors would have been surprised about where I'd been that day and what I'd seen.

At first I thought he meant because we were able to traverse mountains so easily, but he said, "Think of all the temples and tabernacles we passed."

And when I thought about it, it was pretty astounding and I think my pioneer ancestors would have been shocked.

Between Afton, WY and our house, we passed ten temples (and then Saturday morning we went to the Provo temple with Braeden and that wasn't even one of the ten).

**

*

We took a somewhat circuitous route and went through Montpelier, ID and Paris, ID.  Were these places settled by French people?  I don't know.  They are little towns of a couple hundred people each with big churches and tabernacles.

It was a beautiful little spot.  There was an elementary school across the street behind the tabernacle.  It wouldn't be a bad sight to see at recess every day.

We drove by Bear Lake and went to Logan.  I had also never been to Logan.  I've never met anyone who has been to Logan that doesn't say, "I love Logan!" when you ask them about it.

And it is.  Hurray for Logan!  We went to USU that seemed like a ghost town until Adam asked someone and we learned that state schools in Utah get fall break too!  Who knew?  (I mean besides everyone who goes to state schools.)  It was a beautiful campus.  It reminded me a little bit of BYU, just a slightly smaller version.

Here Mark and I are on the edge of the old part of campus.

My Grandpa Jaynes went to USU and my mom told me he liked the restaurant The Bluebird.  So we decided to go.  It was in a neat old building and I loved the history of the place.  (And the food was good too.)

Our next stop was the Logan Tabernacle.  Adam took these pretty pictures.

It reminded me of what the Provo Tabernacle used to be like.  A lady was inside playing the organ  which was nice to listen to for a few minutes and when I wandered around looking for a bathroom, I happened upon a very retro baptismal font.  I love old buildings.

Here's a picture I took of the tabernacle with a close up of one of the red bushes outside.  I need red bushes in my life.

Adam went after the car and Mark and I walked up the hill to the Logan Temple.  It was worth the trek.

We drove home and were happy to see our own beds.

**

*

I keep thinking about my pioneer ancestors.  I wonder if they are satisfied with what I'm doing with all I've been given.

I want to live up to the sacrifices made in my behalf.

Utah County, that's where

At church on Sunday, a 15 year old girl spoke in sacrament meeting.  She said that she is on the cheer team at Timpanogos High School.  She said that their cheer squad set a goal to go to the temple for baptisms every month together to promote unity.

Adam leaned over to me and asked, "Where do we live?"

Living here has all the ups and downs of living anywhere, but seriously.  This is quite a unique place.

St. George in July

Or in other words, why do we do these things to ourselves....

Last Thursday we drove to St. George.  It was about 110 degrees there.  We met Scott and Lisa at Pizza Pie Cafe to load up before our hike in the Narrows.  We packed our lunches and readied everything for the next day.

Friday we left early for Zion National Park.  It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day.  After finally finally getting to the hike after a long wait for the shuttle (Zion National Park:  not an original idea), I was hot.

I don't usually enjoy swimming all that much.  To me, you swim to cool off and there are seldom times when I am hot enough that it merits a swim.

This time I was hot enough.

Also, hiking in the Narrows reminded me of Boulder Creek which I grew up swimming in with my sisters and cousins.  Earlier, I was a little nervous about the trip and afraid I would be the weak link (I wasn't) or that it wouldn't be that fun, but it was!  I had a great time.

Mark is asserting his dominance by T-posing (like all the cool kids are doing) and I'm T-posing right back at him because who is the dominant one?  The one brave enough to go under the cold water, that's who.

I was the first one to get submerged in the water which makes me the Champion Wild Cat according to my sisters.

Lisa came around the corner and saw me in the water and she said, "I thought you said you were indoorsy?!?"

And I am but I grew up swimming in water like that and I was hot.  Two reasons to embrace the outdoors.

The world is a beautiful place and Zion National Park is one of its prettiest spots.

After our day of adventuring we were starving and tired and really enjoyed our dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Saturday Adam and the kids went to Sand Hollow Reservoir with Scott and Lisa and I was back to being indoorsy.  I stayed in the hotel and worked on my online math classes while they played on wave runners.  They helped me pack up the van before they left and here is a text Adam sent me of Mark:

Mark is maybe the only person I know who would drink hot chocolate in July.

Later that afternoon we drove home.  We had foolishly turned our AC all the way off in our house and it was 93 degrees in our upstairs halls.  We are amateurs.

So it was good to be home, but not really.

I slept in the basement.

A town motto

When we lived in Pittsburg, CA (not to be confused with Pittsburgh, PA--the h is the big differentiating factor) there was a town motto of sorts.  It was on those flags towns sometimes fly on their main streets.  The motto:  Recycle your motor oil.

Sort of inspiring.

And that was Pittsburg for you.

Saturday we came up with a motto for Pleasant Grove (in case anyone in the city government is reading this you are welcome to have it made up on flags to fly on Main Street.)  The motto:  30 Minutes from Awesome.

We love and adore being 30 minutes from BYU.

We went to a concert at BYU, featuring Men's Chorus and Women's Chorus, that was for families of small children.  Braeden and Mark are small-ish?  There were a whole lot of toddlers in the audience.  It wasn't the regular staid concert going house but we still enjoyed it.

After that and lunch with our favorite songbird we took Mark back to the Museum of Art to see the exhibit we had liked so much the day before (Braeden had an afternoon baseball game date).  The exhibit is Nina Katchadourian:  Curiouser.  We love it.  We also saw the Tiffany Glass exhibition.

It captured my imagination.  Now in addition to a Cape Cod style house on...Cape Cod and a Spanish style house (with shiny red tile floors) near Balboa Park in San Diego (or can I just live in Balboa Park?), I want a Craftsman style house on a leafy tree-lined street with a deep front porch and Tiffany glass.

In the meantime, I'm happy with my house perched on the side of a mountain in good old Pleasant Grove:  30 Minutes from Awesome.

We have too many houseplants (depends on who you ask) and not enough humidity but especially when all our kids are here, there's nowhere I'd rather be.  This place is the venue for shows like "World's Worst Magician" that Mark and Adam treated us to on Sunday (a.k.a. The Gingician and his Apprentice).

I have no words, but come over and they'll perform it for you.  There's a soundtrack.  And it may be one of the best things that has ever happened on a Sunday afternoon, 30 minutes from awesome.

Momming

Braeden needed to go to the doctor.  I said he could either go himself once I got him the new insurance card or I could meet him at the doctor's office.  He opted for me to meet him.  He said, "You know stuff."

So we met at the doctor's office.  The doctor said I looked more like Braeden's sister than his mom.  Later I asked Braeden if he thought that was really true.  Braeden said he thought people were just trying to be nice when they say that.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is why some questions are better left unasked.

The doctor asked Braeden about medicine he was taking and Braeden said, "Nothing else besides Coke Zero."

I don't think the doctor heard him.  If he did, I hope that was when he was pretending to think I was not Braeden's mother....

The doctor asked him where he was going to school.

"BYU."

"Are you dating?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to."

"I sound like your bishop now," the doctor said with a chuckle.  "I used to be a bishop in a BYU ward."

And that, ladies and gentlemen is going to the doctor in Utah County.

It wasn't quite 11:00 AM when we were done.  Braeden wondered if we wanted to go to lunch.

I said, "Isn't it early for lunch?"

He said, "I'm ready for lunch."

And that, ladies and gentlemen could be why he wanted me to meet him at the doctor's office.

I didn't mind a bit though.  Lunch with my entertaining and handsome son is always a welcome treat.

Weekend

In the same incomprehensible way that Mark takes PE classes when it isn't mandated, he chose to go camping with the scouts on Friday night.  It was the 12-13 year old boys who were going but the leader invited Mark and another boy Josh to join them and they went.

But it's January...and you have a bed here....

Didn't matter.  He wanted to go.  I had to make a concerted effort not to project my feelings of foreboding about the endeavor.

Coincidentally, Friday we got our first real snow of the season.

Mark said their tent collapsed three times during the night because of the snow (over a foot and it snowed the entire time).  He seemed to have fun though.  It was a Klondike campout and the boys participated in a sled race.  Mark and Josh were in the front, powering the sled for the littler boys.  This could be why they were invited....

As for Adam and me, we went to dinner in our kidless state on Friday night.  My favorite dates are dinners because I like to just sit across from Adam and talk about all the things.  And eat garlic rosemary fries.

Saturday afternoon Mark came home cold and tired and starving.

Adam made him a big bowl of chili and every little thing was all right.

It was a happy weekend because Adam and I had two dates.  We left Mark to hang out with Jack (our neighbor) and Adam and I had tickets for the Hale Theater on Saturday night.  We saw Dear Ruth which we loved.

Emma was working.  She is the patron saint of our going to the theater.  She gets us the tickets and chooses good seats and then directs us to the seats.  I love watching her work.  She is this serene center of helpful calm and competence.

When Emma saw Dear Ruth at the door meeting, which is where the ushers see the play for the first time, she noticed they pronounced New Haven wrong.  The actor put the emphasis on Haven when it should have been on New.  Emma mentioned it to her friend Rose.  Rose said, "You should tell my mom."

Rose's mom just so happened to be the producer of the show.  I noted with satisfaction that when we watched the show, New Haven was pronounced correctly.  It's where Emma Jayne was born.  She knows how to say it.

Sunday after church and visiting teaching and time spent on a futile search for holes in the Beckstead side of my family history (I want to find unfinished work and I can't and that should be a good thing but it still disappoints me), the kids came over.

They bring noise and laughter and we spend the time talking over each other and cracking each other up.  It's chaotic and fun and I need to plan simpler meals because being together is the thing.

After they left all was calm.  I pulled out my new little white noise machine that I'd ordered.  (Mark has one and I aspire to be like Mark in more ways.)  Mark's favorite sound is ocean waves so he pushed that button and read the scriptures to us with the background of ocean waves.

We were reading in Alma 31 and when Mark read in verse 3

Now the Zoramites had gathered themselves together in a land which they called Antionum, which was east of the land of Zarahemla, which lay nearly bordering upon the seashore...

He paused for effect so we could hear the waves crashing.

Birthday surprise

Yesterday morning I texted Olivia because it was her birthday.  I knew that she was going to be in the area and I wondered if I'd get to see her.

She texted back that they had time to stop by right then.  Yahoo!

Here's the thing when you stop by our house in the morning in the 8:00 hour.  I will look like I just rolled out of bed (it's not my best look).  And the house may be a little unkempt as well.

None of that matters when it's your little sister though.

The night before when I was (mostly) cleaning up the kitchen, I had thought about Olivia's birthday (it was after all, Olivia Eve) and how she loves chocolate cake with mint frosting just like my January baby does.

Happily when Olivia came over, I had some cake left to give her.  It was a delightful start to my morning to visit with Olivia and Edgar briefly and to be able to hug my sister on her birthday.

You just never know what happy things might occur.

*

* *

Here's something not too surprising.  I got my results back from my DNA test that Adam gave me as a Christmas present.

Turns out I'm white.  There's a reason I get freckles rather than a suntan.

What it's like now

Saturday morning, we met at Kneader's to celebrate Braeden's birthday.  (All you can eat French toast, which for Mark means going back two times.)

I told them about my dream where I was part of the French Resistance in World War II and we were preparing for an attack by the Russians.  My awake self knows that Russia was not France's enemy during WWII but apparently my sleeping self has other ideas.

Emma told us about her recent dream where our family decided to join Mark on a scout campout which was, you know, a cruise for a few months.  In order to save money we were picking the option of not going to any of the ports and not getting any food.  We did however have all the yogurt we could eat.

We stopped at Harmon's on the way home for lemongrass.  I was a first time lemongrass purchaser.  I thought it would be grassy, like chives or something.  It's more like the hard part of the asparagus you cut off and don't use.

While we were there, Mark got a text that he had church basketball games.

So we zipped home for that.

Like church basketball games everywhere, they were forfeited because there weren't enough players. They played anyway, mixing up the teams, and we watched a little.  Mark had fun.  If he's moving, he's having fun.  That's Mark.

We hosted a mini service project at our house, assembling kits to hand out to homeless people.  It was quick and felt like a good way to spend a little time and money.

On something of a whim, Adam and I went to the BYU Women's Basketball game.  We sat behind Braeden and Dillon and Braeden and Dillon make me happy like Mark and Gavin make me happy.  Plus BYU won.

We came home and I cut Adam's hair and baked a cake for the further birthday celebrations happening on Sunday.

On even more of a whim, Adam suggested we go to the movie at Water Gardens.  It is super cheap plus we had a buy one get one free coupon.  They're pretty much paying us to go to the movie!

The three of us quickly made our Vietnamese pork meatballs (why we needed the lemongrass) and they were delicious and then we headed to the movie.

We saw The Post which I loved.  You can't go wrong with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.  I cried a little when Meryl Streep's character was exiting the Supreme Court and walking past a line of admiring young women whose opportunities were opening up because of people like Katharine Graham.

It was a full day but also a relaxing and hassle free day.

The almost empty nest is a happy place.

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Sunday we celebrated Braeden's birthday some more.  We made seven pizzas (only repeated one type--margherita--because everybody loves that.  My favorite was the one I created with peppers, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, mozzarella, peppercinis and lots of kalamata olives.  Mark called it my V. I. Pizza.  At the end of the night, he told me there was one V. I. Piece left for me.

And I ate it.

Delicious.

Here's Braeden lighting his candles:

The cake (chocolate with mint frosting--Braeden's favorite) is slightly wonky because that's the only way I know how to make cakes.  Braeden looks exhausted because he's a college kid and has 9:00 church.  He's always exhausted on Sundays.  He's wearing a shirt Adam wore in college and those are the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards he's had since he was six.  Sam brought a box full of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards back from Switzerland and I interrupted the game Mark and Sam and Braeden were playing so we could have cake.

(Sam's cards are in German.  Also he sang Happy Birthday to Braeden in both German and French.)

50/50

We had a nice time.  It was great to relax and talk and drive through beautiful country side by side.  Turns out I like Moab.  I had never been there before.  There's a lot of Utah I've never been to, considering I grew up in the state next door.

We are slowly seeing a lot of Utah though and I love it more all the time.  What a stunning place!

We went to a really delicious Thai restaurant for dinner.  It's the best Thai food (hands down) that we've had since we left Seattle.

At our hotel we got in the hot tub, well one of the many hot tubs.  There were a network of hot tubs and pools and our kids would love it.  We'd probably never be able to get Mark away.  We chose the hot tub that had the most steam.  Another couple joined us.  Adam wanted to explore but there was no way I was getting out until we were ready to go in or I was uncomfortably hot, whichever came first.  So Adam went to look around at all the pools and that left me engaging in small talk with my new friends.  It was a difficult choice, but I opted to stay warm.

The guy enthusiastically told me all about what they had been doing and gave me unsolicited advice about what we should do at Arches (some people just love to feel like experts).  They told me they were going to camp the next two nights.  I asked, "How cold will it be where you're camping?"

"In the 20s," he gleefully responded.

"I don't like camping in the best circumstances," I said.  Which maybe sounded a little snotty so when we left I told them I hoped they enjoyed their camping.

They cheerfully said, "Look for us in the news."

People mystify me.

There was ice on the sidewalk going back into the hotel.  It was cold.  Which is what happens in December.

It felt like the perfect time to be there though.  The hotel was super cheap and there were no crowds anywhere.  At breakfast Saturday morning, Adam started talking about when we could come back and bring our kids.

Then we hit the National Park.  It was beautiful!  I don't have the adjectives to describe it and the pictures don't do it justice but will have to suffice.  At least there are a lot of them....

I loved this tree. There's something just stark and lovely about the desert.

This view reminded me of the Fremont Troll in Seattle.

We took a few short and easy hikes and it was cold but not terribly cold.  We drove around too and I pointed out to Adam what the rock formations looked like to me.  It was kind of like pointing out shapes in the clouds.

Here Adam and I took pictures of each other:

Because we know how to have fun in a National Park.

I went away feeling grateful for Adam + National Parks + not camping + eyesight + a heated car + Christmas lights at our house when we returned.

Speaking of Christmas, on the freeway on the way home, we saw Santa:

He didn't seem to be the jolly old elf I've come to expect.  Maybe he was cranky because he had to drive and he'd rather take his sleigh.